Color inkjet printers typically have a printhead for black ink and a printhead for colored inks, typically inks in the colors cyan, magenta, and yellow. It is desired to integrate the black ink and the colored inks into a single printhead utilizing a single silicon chip or semiconductor substrate, since much of the cost of the printhead is attributable to the semiconductor substrate. This would also alleviate problems associated with alignment of the black and colored printheads.
One factor inhibiting the use of a single silicon chip for black ink and colored inks is the different drop size requirements associated with the inks. For example, black ink is most typically used for printing text and is typically provided in larger drops of from about 15 to about 35 nanograms (ng). Colored inks are most typically used for photo printing and the like and are typically provided in smaller drops of from about 1 to about 8 ng.
The presently disclosed embodiments advantageously enable the manufacture of a printhead having a single silicon chip to supply black ink and colored inks in different desired drops sizes.